Has Carlos Bacca Lived Up to His €30 Million Price Tag?

After five years of cost-cutting and austerity, AC Milan finally splashed some cash in the transfer market this past summer.

It had been a long time since owner Silvio Berlusconi authorized such a spending spree.  Ever since 2010, when his daughter, Marina, cut the team off from the rest of the Berlusconi family holdings, the Rossoneri have been unable to make the splashy moves that defined the early years of Berlusconi's tenure, when he broke the world transfer record three times.

But after two years of failing to qualify for European competition, Berlusconi was fed up.  He spent more than €86 million in the summer transfer window.  The vast majority of that was concentrated in three players.  The first, Andrea Bertolacci, has so far failed to justify his €20 million fee.  The second, €25 million center back Alessio Romagnoli, has shown great promise and will likely lead the back line for years to come.

The third man was Carlos Bacca.  Costing Milan €30 million, he was a second choice after Milan's efforts to sign Jackson Martinez—then of Porto—fell through at the last minute.

That's a lot of money for any player, so has Bacca lived up to his hefy price tag?  In a word, yes.  Very much so.

Through 32 games this season, Bacca is tied with Paulo Dybala and Mauro Icardi for second on the Serie A scoring chart behind the superhuman season of Gonzalo Higuain.  According to WhoScored.com, his 14 tallies are good for 33 percent of Milan's total scoring output.

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If that alone isn't enough to justify his price tag, it's worth noting just how many more goals he could have had if his teammates had done better this season.

Bacca has been scary accurate this year.  According to Squawka.com, he has found the target with 66 percent of his shots.  As little as six weeks ago, he was putting shots on frame at a 70 percent clip.

A comparison between the Colombia international and the rest of the top five in the scoring chart shows just how accurate he's been.  None of the other four men have an accuracy rating of more than 56 percent (that's Higuain).

If you look just at the numbers, it would be hard to blame you for wondering how he has only 14 goals if he's been so efficient he's been.  That's an indictment not of Bacca, but of his teammates.

Bacca isn't the kind of player who creates his own shot.  He's a pure finisher, attacking the space left him by the defense and depositing the ball in the net.  As seen by his numbers, he's exceedingly good at that, but if the ball never gets to him in those positions, his impact on the game decreases.

That's been the problem.  Bacca's teammates haven't been able to give him the quality service he requires—and quite frankly deserves.  WhoScored clocks him at only 1.8 shots per game—only third on his own team.

By contrast, Higuain's league-leading total of 30 goals has come on 5.4 shots per game.  Dybala has taken three per match.  That's a clear indictment against Bacca's teammates and their inability to get him the ball.  If they managed it a little more, his goal total could very well be a lot higher.

€30 million is a heck of a lot of money to pay for any player.  Fortunately for Milan—especially considering how badly their first choice, Martinez, flopped at Atletico Madrid before being moved to China in the January transfer window—Bacca has proved worthy of both the club and his transfer fee.  Unfortunately, his teammates this season haven't shown that they deserve him.